Finger ring



Jan. 19360 HaA. EN E AL ZJQZZWU) FINGER RING Filed Feb. 3, 1954 PatentedJan. 7, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FINGER RING ApplicationFebruary 3, 1934, Serial No. 709,635

Claims.

Our invention relates to finger rings and particularly to that type offinger rings known as class .rings such as are commonly worn by:students in high schools and academies and which 5 bear insignia oremblems identified with the school or with the class.

These rings have heretofore been usually made of ten carat solid gold.

Due to the present high price of gold, it has become impractical tomanufacture these ten caret solid gold rings .at a price within themeans of a large portion of the students who normally provide the marketfor these rings.

Solid silver has been used .for rings but is not adapted for this typeof rings, the neutral color of .silver providing an unsatisfactorybackground for the highly colored stones or emblems with which theserings arecommonly mounted.

Gold plate, that is base metal concealed .by a

thin casing of gold, has been used for :cheap rings but is entirelyunsuitable for the better type of class rings in which, for satisfactoryresults, natural or synthetic stones or gems :must be used in themounting. The high grade of die work to which the public has becomeaccustomed is not possible in this type .of ring.

In addition there is a prejudice against gold plate jewelry, the publicgenera-11y associating jewelry with articles of precious metal-and;refus- 3O ing to consider or accept gold plate as precious metal.

It is desirable to substitute a less expensive metal in part for-thegold in this type of ring, and it is desirable that this substitutionshall be inconspicuous when the ring is worn, but it is undesirable thatrings with the high grade of stones and gems used in this type of ringshould be constructed even in part of anything other than precious metaland undesirable that the substitution of a less precious metal than goldshould be actually concealed by the structure of the ring.

An object of our invention, therefore, is to provide a ring of gold anda less precious metal, which less precious metal is clearly visible atclose inspection but which, due to its nature and position relative tothe gold surfaces of the ring, is inconspicuous when the ring is worn.

A further object of our invention is to provide 50 a ring having alaminated structure of highly colored metal and neutral colored metal,the exposed edge of the neutral colored metal being polished to providea reflecting surface.

A further object of our invention is to provide 55 a ring having alaminated structure of gold and silver, the exposed edge of the silverbeing .polished to form a reflector.

Aiurther object of our invention is .to provide a ring having .alaminated structure of gold and silver, the silver being covered by thegold except at the edge.

A further object of our invention is to provide 5 aring having alaminated structure of gold and silver in which the ,gold and silverlayers vary from each other in thickness in accordance with theirfunctions in the structure.

A further object of our invention is to provide 10 a finger ring havinga laminated structure .of gold and silver in which agold layer isimpressed with a design and a silver layer is smooth and polished toareiiecting surface at its edge.

A further object of the invention is to provide 15 a simple andinexpensive process for manufacture of .such .a ring.

An embodiment of our inventioni-s shown in the 20 accompanying drawingin which:

Fig. l is a perspective view of the completed l'lng- Fig.2 is a view inperspective of the three layers separated and which are superimposed toform 25 the ring.

Fig. .3 is alongitudinal cross section .of the three layers joinedtogether.

Fig. 4 is across section of the ring upon a plane at right angles to itsaxis.

.Fig. 5 is a side elevationof the ring.

In Figs. 1 and 5 the band of the ring I is surmounted by a flat table 2.Upon this flat table 2 is placed the stone bezel, monogram or insigniaplate which gives the emblematic character of 35 the ring. As these formno part of our present invention they need not be illustrated or furtherdescribed. The outer portion of the band is a gold layer 3 and the innerlayer of band 4 is likewise of gold. Between these gold layers is a 0layer of silver, the edge of which 5 shows at the edge of the band. Theupper gold layer which is contacted by the die in stamping the design ismade of suflicient thickness to permit the metal to be drawn by the diewithout cracking or disclosing the silver. The silver layer is thickerto give weight and body to the ring. The inner gold layer need be onlythick enough to resist wear. The ring is provided with an ornamented orstamped outer surface. In stamping this surface we prefer to provide achamfer or sloped shoulder 6 adjacent the table 2 and an elevated ridgeat 1. Upon those portions of the band 8 and 9 which extend over the palmside of the finger and between the fingers, when the ring is worn, weprefer to make the edge flat, the edge of the three layers being all inthe same plane. The ring is preferably colored, that is provided with asurface film to give the ring a characteristic tint such as greenoryellow gold but the film does not extend over the edge 5 of the silverlayer, the latter being polished to form a bright, reflecting surface.

Our process of making the ring is as follows:

We cut or blank out of a piece of sheet gold a shank l0. Out of a pieceof sheet silver we blank out a shank ll. Out of a second piece of sheetgold we blank out a shank I 2. These three pieces are preferably cutwith the same blanking die. The first sheet of gold is preferablythicker than the second sheet of gold but thinner than the silver sheet.When blanked out, the shanks are strips of metal with enlarged centersand fiat rectangular ends with square edges as shown in Fig. 2.

Solder is then placed upon the shanks and they are superimposed with thethicker gold shank on top, the silver shank in the center and thethinner gold shank below. With heat and pressure the solder unites thethree shanks into the integral, laminated bar l3 shown in section inFig. 3.

This bar is then placed under a hammer carrying dies which give the formto the table, and band portions of the ring, and also impress thesurface ornamentation thereon. The bar is then arbored, that is the endsforming the band portion are curved and joined to form an annulus.

The ring is then stripped, wire whipped and goes through otheroperations such as to attach the stone bezel, monogram plate or the likeall of which operations are well known to the jewelers art and as theyform no part of our invention need not be here described. The ring isthen colored. In coloring, the color film may be omitted from the edgeof the silver shank which forms the center portion of the edge of theband. We,

however, prefer to follow the customary method of coloring which is toplace the ring in a plating solution and by electrolytic means deposit afilm of colored gold upon the surface of the ring. When this coloringmethod is used the film is deposited upon the edge of the silver shankas well as upon the surface of gold shanks, but may be readily removedwith any suitable scraping or abrading tool from the silver edge.

Any other necessary operations such as setting the stone or gem,attaching the insignia mounting or the like are then performed andfinally the ring is buffed and polished leaving the edge of the silvershank bright and with great reflecting properties.

When the ring is worn, the edge of the outer gold shank catches thelight and is reflected on the edge of the silver shank so that thelaminated structure of the ring is obscured and the ring, therefore,when worn has the appearance of an all gold ring but there is no activeconcealment of the compound structure of the ring and when held close tothe eye its structure of laminated silver and gold layers becomesapparent.

We claim:

1. A finger ring having a laminated structure comprising a layer ofneutral colored metal positioned between layers of highly colored metal,the edge of said neutral colored metal being exposed and polished toprovide a reflecting surface.

2. A finger ring having a laminated structure comprising a layer ofsilver positioned between layers of gold, the edge of said silver layerbeing exposed and polished to provide a reflecting surface.

3. A finger ring having a laminated structure comprising a layer ofgold, a layer of silver thicker than the gold and a second layer of goldthinner than said first layer, the edge of said silver layer beingexposed and polished to provide a reflecting surface.

4. A finger ring having a laminated structure comprising a layer ofgold, said layer being impressed with a design including a chamferededge, a layer of silver, the edge of said layer being fiat and polishedto provide a reflecting surface, and a second layer of gold concealingthe lower surface of said silver layer.

5. A finger ring having a laminated structure comprising a layer ofgold, said layer being impressed with a design, a layer of silver, theedge of said layer being flat, and polished to provide a reflectingsurface, and a second layer of gold concealing the lower surface of saidsilver layer, said ring having a deposited film of colored gold upon itssurface except at the edge of the silver layer which edge is exposed andpolished to provide a reflecting surface.

EARL KIFF. HENRY A. NIVEN.

